1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a collapsible box having an automatically locking bottom for transporting reels of movie film. The present invention further provides a method of transporting movies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The reels of film on which movies are typically supplied to theaters weigh approximately 10 pounds each, and are presently transported using metal or plastic film cans, with each film can holding up to four reels of film. The cans typically weigh approximately eight pounds, and do not collapse when empty. Therefore, the use of these cans not only increases the cost of shipping a movie by increasing the total weight that must be shipped, but also increase the cost of shipping the empty containers, and the amount of space required to store empty containers. Furthermore, a typical movie requires five to seven reels of film, requiring two film cans to hold an entire movie. The use of more than one film can increases the risk that only part of a movie will arrive at its desired destination. Lastly, each of these film cans is expensive, costing over $22.00 each.
Some examples of presently available collapsible boxes having automatically locking bottoms include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,102,279 and 6,102,280, having the same inventor and assignee as the present invention. Although these boxes perform their intended applications quite well, the references fail to teach or suggest the specific reinforcements necessary to carry the 50–70 pounds that a typical series of film reels for a movie will weigh.
Accordingly, there is a need for a box having a collapsible, automatically locking bottom, capable of containing and supporting the weight of a complete movie.